Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Polar Bears

Professor James Q. Wilson writing in the February 2006 issue of Commentary (the smartest magazine in the world) on the subject of "How Divided Are We?":

"In extreme form...polarization can entail the belief that the other side is in thrall to a secret conspiracy that is using devious means to obtain control over society. Today's versions might go like this: 'Liberals employ their dominance of the media, the universities, and Hollywood to enforce a radically secular agenda'; or, 'conservatives, working through the religious Right and the big corporations, conspired with their hired neocon advisers to invade Iraq for the sake of oil.'"

[Wade note: Sure, the liberals all meet every Thursday evening in Al Franken's living room to draft headlines for The New York Times and the conservatives are so evil and clever they planned a war for oil but they drew the line at actually planting WMDs to make their case.]

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